The Truth Will Set You Free
by rorybonjovi
Summary: What if there was another reason for Haley to stay away? Starts after season 2...


**The truth will set you free**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all, not even the computer on which this fan fiction has been written…

-Starts where season 2 left off-

Haley just stood there, a little dumbfounded, looking at the torn, broken hearted man in-front of her. She didn't know what to say to him, but he solved that problem for her by simply saying "I told you not to bother coming home, and I meant it". And right as he finished his saying, Deb came running towards them, telling them about Dan and the dealership. Nathan looked coldly at Haley, as if blaming her for that too, and ran to the car with his mother.

Haley sighed. 'Well, that went as well as could be expected. At least he didn't slam the door on my face…' she thought. Though the pain in her heart told her he might as well have.

She took a deep breath and started to walk away. She knew she couldn't postpone the inevitable anymore, she just wasn't too sure she could handle the next blow.

She walked slowly, having to will her legs to continue moving and not cave in from under her yet. She thought about everything that has been going on in the past year or so, and she found herself almost choking, remembering everything that she's lost. She knew how Nathan must feel, how much he was probably hurting, because she was hurting too. She lost just as much as he did, if not more, and she can't get it back because she couldn't betray her best friend like that. It wasn't her secret to share, but it was causing her so much damage just the same.

As she walked by the beach, she saw Lucas and Peyton sitting there, hugging. She knew she should talk to him, but that didn't seem like a viable option right now. She knew Peyton, too, was angry at her for leaving them all behind the way she did, and frankly, she couldn't blame her. And she didn't want to use pitiful lies and excuses to appease her, either. She deserves more then that, but what could Haley really do? She couldn't tell her the truth. She couldn't let anyone know that she knew. And she didn't even know if Peyton knows at all. So she gave up on trying to talk to anyone for today, and just kept walking aimlessly.

It took her a long time to realize she doesn't even have a place to stay tonight, and it tore at her. The understanding of everything that has happened finally choking her completely that she kept on walking blindly, not even caring anymore where her legs would end up dragging her. Eventually, she collapsed, just crying herself to sleep on a wooden floor that found its way under her.

And that's how Lucas found her later that night: curled up on the porch, at the entrance to his bedroom, looking pale, thin and fragile. He contemplated waking her, for a grand total of about a second, before taking her safely in his arms and laying her on his bed. He just stared at her for a while before going to sleep on the couch.

The next morning, Haley woke up to the smell of hot cocoa somewhere around her. She opened her eyes to see Lucas sitting on the bed with too cups in hand.

"You want some?" he asked, giving her one of the cups, which she gladly took…

"Yeah, how did I get here, anyway?"

"Well, I don't know the whole story, but what I do know is that my best friend was on tour somewhere, and one day I came home to find you sleeping against my door. Oh, and I found your suitcase too, this morning. It was on the beach, just lying there… wanna fill in the blanks?"

"God, Luke, I've got sooo much to talk to you about, starting with a huge I'm sorry for skipping town like that, and for not coming back with you and Brook when you came to visit…"

"Yeah, well, does Nathan even know you're here?"

"Yeah. And he's not too thrilled about that, either."

"Can't say I blame him."

"OK, I guess I had that one coming… Anyway, how's everyone doing?"

"Well, you know, there's always lots of drama everywhere. As usual, I guess."

"Huh. How about you? Anything new?"

"Nope, not much, anyway. I mean, I already told you everything when I came to see you, and when we talked on the phone after that… But I wanna hear about you? Is the tour over? Are you back for good?"

"I left. I need to concentrate on school right now. But I don't have anywhere to live here, so I might have to go live with my parents, which would mean leaving again, and I really don't wanna do that. I don't know what I'll do yet. I have no idea."

"Well, until you decide, you're welcome to crush here. For as long as you want."

"You sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not, why would I mind?"

"No reason I can think of…" She said, trying to sound convincing enough.

But Lucas always could read right through her, so he asked, "What is it?"

"It's nothing." She said. She didn't want to start a huge argument right now. She was feeling safe and at home for the first time in a long time, and she wanted it to last just a little bit longer.

A week has passed, and Haley managed to systematically avoid talking to Lucas about anything serious. Karen welcomed her back with open arms, and even let her have her old job at the café again. She was temporarily leaving in the Roe residence' guest room, not really bothering to come out of there too much, not wanting to have to talk to anyone – or more to the point, have the people she once considered her friends ignore her completely or even down right insulting her to her face, as Peyton has been doing every time she happened to walk into the café on Haley's shift.

Finally, Lucas has had enough, feeling as if he didn't really have his best friend back, but a complete stranger who was distancing herself from him, instead. He walked into her room purposefully, intent on finding some answers to the many questions that were left floating in his head. What he saw as he entered shocked him. There were plenty of pictures – of her and Nathan and of her and himself - on her bed and around it, and there were 2 large envelopes sitting there. He looked around to see if he could find Haley anywhere, but she wasn't there. Curiosity finally getting the better of him and he opened the first envelope. It was the documents of the terminated marriage between her and his half-brother. Looking around for signs of his friend again – and again finding none – he put that envelope back and opened the second one. For this he wasn't prepared: it was the true results of the test he took a while ago, saying he indeed had HCM. At that moment, Haley walked in, seeing exactly what he was holding, desperation evident in her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Where did you get this!" He asked, more then a little hurt.

Haley sighed and sat on the bed, motioning for him to do the same.

"Sit down; this is going to take a while." He did as he was told, anxious to hear whatever it is she had to say.

"It didn't take long after I left for the tour for me to regret it. A couple of shows and I wanted to catch the next bus back… while I was onstage, I had everything planned out in my head: which bus I'd take, what I'd say to everyone when I get back here, how much groveling I was going to do to get Nathan to forgive me… but I had a visitor waiting for me at the back. It was Dan."

"WHAT?"

"Just listen through, please, no interruptions."

"OK, I won't talk 'till you're done, I promise."

"OK. Anyway, he showed me those papers, told me about the test, and how he promised you he wouldn't tell anyone, and how he was paying for your meds. He told me that you didn't even want Karen to know and that it all costs a lot of money – which you didn't have. So, obviously, he found it as a great way to blackmail me. Make me stay away. He said that if I come back to Tree Hill, he'll stop paying. So I didn't. Even at the cost of losing my husband and all my friends, I didn't come back. But now I think I saved enough and you won't need his money anymore."

After that, they both stayed silent for a while. Haley looked down at her hands, a little scared as to how he would take it. Lucas, at last finding his voice again, asked "Why didn't you tell me this? From the start, I mean."

"Why didn't you?"

"Haley, I didn't want anybody to worry about me…"

"Lucas, Dan knew. Did you really think he would just be a good father and keep it to himself!"

"No, but I never thought he would do that to you, either."

"Lucas, this illness is serious. What if something had happened to you and no one around you would've even been aware of it! Do you realize how dangerous that is!"

"I know, but I was taking care of it."

"Yeah, by making deals with the devil instead of trusting the people who love you to help you in your time of need. I thought we were friends, Lucas."

"We are! And I'm sorry. I know I've made the wrong choice but it was the only way I could see at the time."

After a few moments of silence, Lucas spoke once again. "Did you tell anyone?"

"No, I didn't. And now everybody hates me for it."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it would turn out so messed up."

"Well, you were dealing with Dan Scott, how did you think it would turn out?"

"I don't know, I just… I don't know."

"So what now?"

"I don't know. I need to find a job, soon, and an excuse to tell my mom about it, too…"

"Why don't you tell her the truth?"

"With everything else she's had to put up with so far? I don't think so. Not now, anyway."

"Well, as long as Dan knows, there's no way of telling what else he'll do with the information."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I think you should tell her before she finds out on her own."

"Yeah, ok. Just, not right now, alright?"

"Well, I guess I can't tell you what to do, now, can I?"

"Actually, with everything you've sacrificed for me, I think you can pretty much have me as your loyal slave, forever…"

"Hmmm, I do like the sound of that…"

"I thought you might."

"Well, there is something I want from you, though."

"I did see that one coming… what is it?"

"I need your help in getting Nate to forgive me."

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that. I obviously can't tell him the truth about why I stayed away for so long, and he already thinks I had an affair with Chris…"

"Did you?"

"HELL NO!"

"OK, just making sure…"

"Whatever. Anyway, any thoughts?"

"Actually, Nathan and I aren't on the best of terms right now, and also, he's going to High Flyers in a couple of days…"

"Oh, well, that's great for him. He deserves that."

"What, being on bad terms with me?"

"No, stupid. High Flyers!"

"I know. It was a joke…"

"Yeah, a lame one!"

"HEY!"

"Anyway, back to the subject at hand, what do I do?"

"Don't worry, Hales. I'm sure we'll figure something out."

"I hope so."

"I really missed you, you know?"

"I really missed you too." They hug each other, enjoying the feel of security they could only find between the two of them, and then they both took a deep breath and faced reality together, like they used to…


End file.
